On the crisp, sunlit morning of Friday, May 3, 2002, seven-year-old Alexis S. Patterson walked toward Hi-Mount Community School in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, wearing a bright red hooded jacket and carrying a pink Barbie bookbag. She was less than a half-block from the school entrance when she vanished into thin air.
The Morning of May 3, 2002
Known affectionately to her family as "Pie" because of her sweet demeanor, Alexis was a first-grade student at Hi-Mount Community School, located at 4921 West Garfield Avenue on Milwaukee's West Side. She lived with her mother, Ayanna Burroughs, and her stepfather, LaRon Bourgeois, in an apartment near North 49th and West Clarke streets, roughly a block and a half from the school.
That morning began with a typical childhood dispute. Alexis had wanted to take a store-bought plastic container of cupcakes to school to celebrate the end of the school week with her classmates. Her mother told her no, explaining that because Alexis had failed to complete her homework assignments that week, she could not take the treats. Alexis was tearful and upset as she prepared to leave for school.
At approximately 7:55 AM, LaRon Bourgeois walked Alexis down North 49th Street toward Garfield Avenue. Bourgeois later stated to police investigators that he stopped at the corner, watched Alexis walk across the street toward the school playground gates where other children were gathering, turned around, and walked back to the family residence.
Alexis never stepped inside her classroom that morning. When the morning attendance bell rang at 8:15 AM, her teacher marked her absent. However, due to an administrative breakdown in the school's automated absentee notification system, no phone call was placed to her parents.
For over seven critical hours, Alexis was missing while her family believed she was safe in her first-grade classroom. It was not until 3:00 PM, when Alexis failed to walk through the front door after dismissal, that Ayanna Burroughs called the school and learned her daughter had been absent all day.
Chronological Case Timeline
| Date / Time | Location | Event / Investigative Milestone |
|---|---|---|
| May 3, 2002 • 7:55 AM | 49th & Garfield, Milwaukee | Alexis is walked toward Hi-Mount School by stepfather. Last confirmed sighting near the school playground gates. |
| May 3, 2002 • 8:15 AM | Hi-Mount Community School | Alexis is marked absent; automated parental notification system fails to trigger. |
| May 3, 2002 • 3:15 PM | Milwaukee, WI | Ayanna Burroughs contacts Milwaukee Police Department after discovering Alexis never attended school. Code Amber initiated. |
| May 4–12, 2002 | Milwaukee & Lake Michigan | Massive urban search grid: MPD, FBI, and volunteers search over 2,000 vacant buildings, alleys, and Washington Park lagoon. |
| May 2002 | Milwaukee, WI | Witnesses report an older-model red truck or SUV idling near Hi-Mount School in the days leading up to the disappearance. |
| May 2012 | Milwaukee City Hall | Milwaukee Common Council officially designates May 3 as "Alexis Patterson Forget-Me-Not Day" in commemorative resolution. |
| May 2016 | Bryan, Ohio | Tip alleges a 21-year-old Ohio woman without a birth certificate is Alexis Patterson. MPD detectives swab subject; DNA definitively excludes her. |
| 2021–2026 | NCMEC / MPD Cold Case | National Center for Missing & Exploited Children releases updated forensic age progressions to ages 23 and 28. Case remains active priority. |
The Urban Search & The Red Truck Lead
The response from the Milwaukee Police Department and the Federal Bureau of Investigation was massive. Over the following two weeks, search teams canvassed more than 2,000 abandoned homes, vacant duplexes, garages, and storm sewer conduits across Milwaukee's Midtown and Metcalfe Park neighborhoods. Tactical marine units repeatedly dredged the Washington Park lagoon, while helicopters scanned the Lake Michigan shoreline with forward-looking infrared (FLIR) sensors.
During extensive neighborhood canvassing, multiple students and parents provided consistent statements regarding an older-model red vehicle—described by some as a red pickup truck and by others as a red Chevrolet Blazer or sport utility vehicle—that had been observed parked near Hi-Mount School during morning drop-offs in the week leading up to May 3. Witnesses noted that the vehicle was occupied by an unidentified male who appeared to watch children arriving at the playground. Despite hundreds of vehicle stops and registrations reviewed by detectives, the vehicle was never conclusively traced.
- DNA Status: Full nuclear STR profile and maternal mitochondrial DNA sequence uploaded to CODIS under NamUs MP4146 and NCMEC 933801.
- Pediatric Dental Chart: Complete early-childhood dental records documenting primary dentition and a distinctive gap between her upper central incisors.
- Unique Anatomical Markers: Noticeable bump/scar on her left pinky finger resulting from a childhood fracture; surgical ear piercings.
The 2016 Ohio False Lead & Familial Exclusions
Both LaRon Bourgeois and Ayanna Burroughs underwent exhaustive polygraph examinations and repeated interrogations by MPD detectives and FBI profilers. Crime scene technicians treated the family apartment and vehicles with chemical luminol; no trace of biological cleanup or domestic violence was discovered.
In May 2016—exactly fourteen years after Alexis vanished—the Milwaukee Police Department received a compelling lead from Bryan, Williams County, Ohio. A local resident reported that a 21-year-old woman residing in the area bore an uncanny physical resemblance to Alexis's age-progression portrait, possessed no verified birth certificate, and had vague recollections of early childhood. Milwaukee detectives immediately traveled to Ohio to collect buccal swabs. Within seventy-two hours, the Wisconsin State Crime Laboratory completed comparative STR analysis: the woman's DNA did not match Alexis Patterson, bringing heartbreak to her family once again.